Case Study
A Case Study is a research method involving a detailed examination and in-depth description of a particular empirical case. This can be done in many different ways, and the unit of analysis can vary (a person, an institution, a country, etc.). Case Studies can include both quantitative and qualitative evidence (Stake, 1995) and typically rely on bringing together many different articles of evidence from various sources to illuminate the case as a whole.
Case Studies benefit from having a developed theoretical framework before data collection begins (Yin, 2003). At the same time, the Case Study approach allows flexibility and can be used in exploratory contexts. This can be attractive to the researcher because it allows data collection to begin immediately (though there remains a need to impose a theoretical structure in the analysis phase). Consequently, Case Studies can be conducted at different levels of formality and replicability (Hetherington, 2013).
The case study research design can be used to test whether theories and models work in real contexts of application (Shuttleworth, 2008) and, conversely, to generate hypotheses and theories.
Case Study: GO-GN Insights
Sarah Hutton used a hermeneutic phenomenological case study to illuminate a direct connection between undergraduate student participation in courses with a participatory OER authorship or open access publishing of student artefacts model, to the development of internal goals and deepened engagement:
“Participatory OER development and an open pedagogical model provide the potential for students to have autonomous control over the development of course content, fostering greater intrinsic motivation, and therefore more successful and transferable learning outcomes. The resulting analysis creates a compelling case for the adoption of OER materials beyond the affordability argument, further advocating for the engagement of students in open scholarship at the undergraduate level.”
Viviane Vladimirschi explored evidence-based guidelines in the context of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) for Brazilian fundamental education public school teachers by undertaking an intervention in one school. The main goal of the OER Development Program was to raise awareness and build teachers’ knowledge
regarding OER adoption and use:
“The case study methodology used in this research is a very common approach within Educational Studies. It is also a fairly easy method to use and the analysis of multiple sources of data have the potential to not only generate new insights throughout the case study but also generate new theory. Theory-building is very well-suited to new research areas, which was the case of this research. However, there are some disadvantages to using this methodology. First, it is not possible to generalize the findings from a single case study. Second, achieving the balance between producing an overly complex theory or a narrow idiosyncratic theory is quite challenging. Theory generated by case studies must be testable, replicable and coherent. The TPD guidelines generated by this research are testable, replicable and pretty straightforward so I am confident I managed to achieve this balance. The Design Thinking for Educators approach (please note that it is not a method) that I used in this research for the face-to-face workshops I highly recommend to any researcher who wishes to undertake an intervention, especially in the K-12 sector. This approach not only enables researchers to gain more insight into potential solutions for introducing new professional practices, but also affords teachers multiple opportunities to participate in the process of determining how innovation may be best implemented. Its only potential disadvantage is that it requires a longer period of time of application during each of its distinct phases to obtain bottom-up buy-in to an innovation.”
Useful references for Case Studies: Hetherington (2013); Shuttleworth (2008); Stake (1995); Yin (2003)